Denver

The day after Christmas, my mom, dad, Judah, Mayah, Liam, Lily, and I loaded up my cousin's van, braved the icy roads, and made our way to Denver. My older brother, Jeremy, lives in Denver with his wife, Shana. My sister, Jenny, lives in Montana with her husband, Aaron, and her daughter, Madeline. Denver is about a twelve hour drive from Iowa and Montana, so the Criswell family made plans to meet up there for Christmas this year.

This is a photo of all of the cousins. Madeline, Liam, Mayah, and Judah all got shirts with pictures of Lily's face on them. It was hilarious. My favorite is Judah's shirt because Lily's face resembles that of Aunt Jemima.

This is Madeline with her daddy, Aaron. We visited the Denver Aquarium on Tuesday. Maddie thought the loud parrot was pretty funny. Lily barely left Maddie's sight the entire trip.

This is Liam and I before he fell asleep. I like this picture because it shows how much my little blue-eyed blonde child does NOT look like me. Who is this kid?

Judah, Maddie, and Mayah were looking into a huge tank with sharks and other giant fish when a scuba diver swam up to where they were standing. She stood there and did sign language-like motions to them for about five minutes.

I love how blue Liam's eyes are in this picture next to my mom's shirt.

We got presents for the kids to open at the hotel. The three middle grand kids got Super Why costumes. Judah is Super Why, and Madeline and Mayah are Princess Pea. Judah wore his mask and cape the entire twelve hour trip home.

Jenny picked up tights out of Target's dollar aisle for Maddie and Mayah. Mayah loved them: one for her legs and one for her head. She was cheese-ing it up big time.

Jenny also bought the kids a Curious George Zoo board game. It was a lot of fun. Part of the game is to put on a mask and "escape" from the zoo. This is my pig mask.

We swam a lot while we were there. This picture was taken after swimming one day (this is the excuse I give you for my children all being semi-naked, when in reality, they are always naked.). It cracks me up that Lily, Jer, and my dad are making silly faces as was requested, and all three of my children are glued to the television. Ahh family time...

And finally, more television. I think the best part of the vacation for my children was that the tv was on the entire time we were in the hotel room. I hope that is not all they remember.

Catching Up

Wow, it has been almost a month since my last blog. I'm gonna be honest...I forgot about you. Yep. I did. I will, therefore, try to catch you up on the life that you have been dying to read about. Here we go....

December was a crazy month. I am no closer to my goal of weight loss because I made it to the gym ONCE the entire month. Will is up nearly every morning by 5 to be at work or wrestling practice, and I am not about to be up by 3:30 or 4 just to get a workout in. Will gets home in time to take a quick rest and leave for practice but not long enough for me to get a workout in. He then gets home around 6:30 PM, which is usually my first chance to just rest from a full day of home-making. Could I workout in the evening? Yes. Do I have the energy or desire to workout during my first chance in the day to rest and be with my husband? No. It is all very discouraging. My sister-in-law promised to come over three times a week in December to watch the kids so I could go work out and made it once.

Two positives to end my weight loss goal topic: 1. Wrestling will be over at the end of February!! 2. I requested a twelve time pass from the "expensive gym" in town for Christmas. This gym is better than my gym because it provides childcare for $2 a kid and has classes. The passes expire January 31, so I will be motivated to get in there and use them up!

On to other news:
Christmas is over. Here is a quick recap of how we spent our holiday...Last Sunday, we traveled to Grinnell for Will's dad's family Christmas. This Christmas consisted of eating turkey sandwiches and opening presents. The kids went sledding with Uncle Shawn, which I believe is going to become an annual tradition. The kids got some great toys, and Will and I came away with a water bottle and a lottery ticket each.

Our next Christmas party was with Will's family on Christmas eve. We got together with the family and opened presents and then had soup. Everybody drew names for our Christmas exchange this year, which was a nice change for my bank account. I got aforementioned pass and Will got a wrestling jacket. We would usually go to our church's Christmas Eve service on this night, but this year it was canceled because of the weather. Bummer.

We spent Christmas day at home, which was the first time we had ever been home in the morning to open presents. It was a nice change! I will write more about our day later...my kids are getting hungry, and I have avoided them for long enough.

Maybe I will even find time later today to write and post photos. Maybe.

The Meaning of Christmas

Every other Tuesday, I bundle up the kids and drag them to Story City for a program called MOPS. MOPS stands for Mothers Of Preschoolers and is a gathering of moms who have children who are not yet in school (in case you didn't guess from the title:). Most larger cities have a MOPS group, including Ames. I don't go to the Ames group because it is once a month during the evening, and there is no childcare provided. What's the point, right? If I am going to invest time into something, it is going to be something that gets the kids and I out of the house during the day. More than anything else, I am going to this group to drop my children off in their daycare center for two hours. The kids get to play, eat a snack, and learn a lesson about God. It really is a great program for the kids. Judah made an ornament today:We officially have one ornament on our tree...yes, we have a tree. The Owens Family has never braved a tree before. When Judah was one, we went to a friend's house where Judah pulled an ornament off of their tree and took a bite. The ornament shattered inside his mouth and cut him to pieces. I have since been too scared to put up our own tree. This avoidance approach has worked well for us up until yesterday. I guess four is the magic age when kids start to realize that we are the only ones not doing something. Judah has been very interested as of late in decorating any and everything, so he was jazzed when I got our tiny hand-me-down tree and said we could decorate it. Don't get me wrong, I am still playing it safe. Our tree is up off the ground, on top of our blanket chest. It is decorated by garland and beads...and now one ornament. Merry Christmas.

Back to MOPS...

Judah moved up to the four to five year old room last time and was not pumped about it. He is at least a foot shorter than every one in the class, which I am sure is intimidating, and he had to leave his bff, Zoe, behind in the three year old room. Today when I dropped him off, I was a bit worried that he would remember how miserable he was last time. We walked in to find them all playing with play-doh, and some kid says, "Hey, look! It's Judah! Hey, Judah, remember how you don't like us??" Come on, kid! Luckily it didn't phase him because there was play-doh to be manipulated.

I still haven't gotten to my favorite part of the experience. I walked into his classroom at the end of the session, and his teacher said, "Judah, tell your mama what God wants for Christmas." Judah responded, very enthusiastically, "A MIRROR!"
I was a bit confused and looked at his teacher for an explanation. Her look told me that she was surprised by his answer. "Judah, what was in the mirror?"
He thought about it. "Me?" Then he gained a little confidence. "Me, Mama! God wants me for Christmas!"
On the way home, I told Judah to let Mayah and Liam know that God wants them for Christmas.
"No, Mama. He just wants us for Christmas...my classroom."

I think the meaning of Christmas may have gone right over Judah's head.

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

Julie Andrews could be heard on my radio this morning. I don't share a joy for any of her favorite things. What a bunch of nonsense...whiskers on kittens..snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes? You had better believe if there was a snowflake caught on my eyelash , I would be blinking that thing out like crazy.

Regardless of how much the things in this song annoy me, it did get me thinking about some of my favorite things. I have compiled a list of some of my favorite things about my kids.

I love...

• how the first thing Liam does in the morning when I lay him down to change his diaper is blink. He gets the biggest smile on his face and blinks two or three times while I blink back. It seems to be a secret Liam language, and I love it.
• that Mayah apologizes when she runs into furniture or other inanimate objects. She very clearly says, "Sorry, Babe". I love that she doesn't stop to address the offended chair but continues to walk as she apologizes.
• that Judah's body parts talk to him. His penis "tells" him that it is time to pee. His tummy "tells" him that it needs cookies. He encourages his booty to "PUSH" while sitting on the potty (even in public restrooms).
• how well my children sleep. I have been blessed with sleepers.
• that Judah tells jokes that make absolutely no sense and that Mayah laughs hysterically at the "punch line". I love that they are both seeking attention in different ways.
• hearing Liam coo from the back seat. He is seated so he can see Judah and Mayah, and sometimes I think he is trying so hard to just talk to his family.
• that Judah says really funny (and sometimes inappropriate) things without even knowing it. Today he kept yelling at Mayah to "eat his nuts." I had to have him repeat himself four times before realizing that he was pretending to be a squirrel.
• how my children love people. I have somehow raised children who jump out of my arms to go to the nursery or to be held by people they may or may not recognize. Mayah is famous for sitting in random laps at the library during story time. Last week at church, Judah ran into the middle of a random group of young men and grabbed a guy's leg. I walked up to the group and asked the guy if he knew my son. None of them had ever seen him before. After prying Judah from the guy's calf, I asked Judah what he was doing. "I needed a hug." I love him.
• how loved they make me feel. I have raised cuddlers, which I adore. Judah tells me at least ten times a day that we are best friends and "I just wanna be with ya, Mama."

Okay, so there are definitely more things that I love about my kids. These are just a few of my favorite things.

Cold

I am sitting inside my warm house today, looking out the window at the frosted grass. In about an hour, I will have to bundle up the kids in their winter gear, force them into their freezing car seats, drive to the high school, struggle with them into the gymnasium, and then prepare to do it all again. I hate cold. I really really HATE cold. Here is a list of things that are allowed to be cold: ice cream, soda, perishable items, ice cubes, hmmm...I will add to the list as I think of more.

I don't hate winter. Winter is fine. I am even ok with icy roads. If it could be 70 degrees out while I am driving 20 mph on the icy roads, I wouldn't complain. I don't like the way my cheeks feel when the wind pierces them. I don't like the way my fingers and toes become numb. I don't like that I can't jump in my car and drive to get some milk without ten minutes of preparation. I don't like that I force my children to stay inside all day because lugging three small children around in these conditions seems unbearable.

Why do I live in Iowa if I am such a whiner? It is because of you suckers. I have a proposal. Let's sell all of our assets and pool our money together to buy an island. This is for you, family, friends, and church. You all have to come. You can also invite your friends and family, but if they can't come it is okay, because I will be there to keep you company. Our lives can be exactly the same, only without the misery of December, January, February, and sometimes March. It will be nothing like a commune, and I won't force you to drink kool-aide. It will be more like the Dharma Initiative (only without the smoke monster, the natives, or Ben).

Who's in? Come on..give me something to hold on to this winter..even if it is a load of crap.

I hate cold.

Liam

For real, have you ever seen a cuter little Liam? Liam will be eight months old tomorrow. EIGHT. He is crawling on his belly (army crawling) and is all over the place. He is officially my earliest crawler. I'm not sure I was ready for all of the movement going on in this house. He loves to locate all of the cords in the house and scurry toward them to find a place for them in his already saliva filled mouth. The kid already has six razor sharp teeth. He is still a great sleeper, too. My boy sleeps at least twelve hours every night and takes two or three naps during the day, each lasting an hour or more.

Liam loves his papa. He lights up the second Will walks in the door.

Judah's favorite thing to do with Liam is to grab him by both legs and drag him across the room, mostly to get him away from Judah's beloved toys. Mayah's favorite thing to do with Liam is to give him his bottle, even though he doesn't need the help any more. So, there you have it. Liam is beautiful and wonderful and sweet and fantastic.

My Little Comedian

Last night, Judah decided to break out of his normal bedtime routine to play a little joke on Will. When I say little, I mean tiny and almost not even worth calling a joke. When Will came out of the bedroom, he told me what Judah did and explained how hard Judah laughed at himself. I love when a kid laughs at his own joke. Pure joy.

This morning, I heard Judah leave his bedroom and run down the steps to wake up Liam. I reluctantly rolled out of bed and headed down the steps. When Judah heard me coming into the kitchen, he threw open Liam's door and jumped out.

"MAMA!! Last night, Papa said, 'Good night, Buddy.' And I said, 'Good night, Grandma!!' HAHAHAHAHAAHA!!!"

"Wow, Judah. That's pretty silly. Why did you call Papa 'Grandma'?"

"I WAS PRETENDING HE WAS GRANDMA! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

You get the gist. Maybe the lamest joke of the century. I love that he was waiting all night to tell me this joke. I love that it was the first thing he thought of when he saw me. I love that he giggled so violently.

Man, I love my kids.

PARTY #4!!

Judah turned four years old last Thursday. Because Judah and Mayah both have November birthdays, we will be celebrating their lives with our families this Saturday. I decided to throw Judah a party on his birthday during the morning with his friends.

He decided that he wanted a "Letter" party this year. Yes, very scholarly, I know. We decorated the house in his favorite color, red. I bought streamers and hung wherever he pointed. Then we baked cupcakes and decorated them with letters. Each cupcake had the first letter of someone's name who was coming to the party. "J"udah got a "J" cupcake and so on. Each friend also got a sack with his or her letter on it. The sacks were full of fun things to take home.
To finish off the letter theme, we cut out squares with letters of each child's first name. The kids played a game where they had to find their letter
before they could have a cupcake. Judah had a

blast getting the house ready and planning
games for his buddies. There were eleven kids at his party. It got a little crazy.


Judah's friends in attendance were Zoe and Elijah VH, Mylie, Emmett, and Raya M, Jaxson and Lincoln M, Titus H, Kenan T, and Mayah and Liam. We are blessed to have such great friends!



Judah really scored with presents! He got some great dinosaur gifts, a cool barn set, a book, helicopter, and some other little toys. He has been playing with them nonstop! I think the morning party is officially the way to go. It was just like a play group, only with purpose. The kids played in the play room and then had cupcakes and ice cream. The party started at 10 and they went home for lunch around 11:30. Sure, cupcakes at 10:30 isn't ideal, but it really was a success.

Feeling Useful is Better Than Feeling Important

Those are the nuggets of wisdom I just heard the narrator on Thomas the Tank Engine impart on said show. Hmmm...I'm beginning to believe Will's theory about the show being written by communists.

Anyway...

The other night, I asked Judah and Mayah to begin calming down before bed. I could not get them to stop running, let alone calm down. Will, assuming I had everything under control, went upstairs to shower and left me alone to deal with them on my own. I took this video to show him what he was missing:

Also...

I wanted to let you all see how precious Liam is when he is smiling and grunting. What I really captured is my oldest son being the victim, my daughter being the bully, and my youngest being oblivious. Enjoy.

In case you are wondering whether just asking for the ball worked, it didn't.

Halloween Party

Will and I were invited to a Halloween party by some friends in our small group. Like so often happens in our relationship, neither of us any idea what we were going to do until a few hours before the party began. Will's first goal was to be Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords, but the glasses he had got all bent up when I was popping the lenses out of them on the way to the party. Ooops. So instead, we came up with Party Will. Will was dressed up like he would if he ever agreed to go to parties. My clever man.
I went to WalMart about an hour before the party and threw together my Rocker Jess outfit. Total cost: under $10.

Above is a picture of Party Will and good friend, Hippie Josh. Will really seems to be enjoying his Red Bull.

My friend, Krista, was Sandy from Grease. Cory, Josh's wife, was also a hippie. The girls had lots of fun playing games and dancing.

My favorite costume of the night went to my friend, Kris, and her Mom Jeans.

My Kids Really Bug Me

The Owens children had a great time during Halloween this year. Judah decided that he really needed to be a spider, and that he really needed to wear the same costume that he wore when he was two. Sadly, the costume marked 12-18 months still fit the little guy. He was elated. Judah then dictated that his siblings needed to also be bugs. Luckily, Cousin Maddie had sent Mayah her costume from last year which happened to be a love bug. That left one costume to be bought: a bumblebee for Liam. This is a great photo because it shows Judah doing his thing. He often takes it upon himself to make sure that Mayah and Liam are smiling or looking or doing whatever he deems necessary by guiding their faces. I'm waiting for Mayah to sock him someday. She was too busy eating candy to care in this photo (notice the puffed out cheeks).

This is Judah's scary face. His tongue was moving from side to side because he was practicing catching bugs with his tongue. I am pretty sure he was confusing spiders with frogs.

This was the best shot I could get of Mayah's costume. That girl loves her some candy.

I was pumped to get to dress Liam in a baby costume. This Halloween marked my first chance to get to dress a non-walking baby. Loved it. He was so sweet.

The kids spent Friday begging at the local stores in downtown Ames. It was great because they were open from 10 to 2, so it wasn't cold and dark like so many Halloweens can be. There was even a professional photographer taking photos of kids and giving free 5x7s. I am excited to see their photo. I think that this is the way to go for toddlers and preschoolers. We tried to go Halloween night, too, but during the day was so much easier for some reason. Plus, there weren't a bunch of crazy goblins or guts and blood to scare the kids. Day Halloween gets my stamp of approval.

The Great Pumpkin Hunt

The Owens Family took a trip to the Berry Patch near Nevada to get some pumpkins.
Judah enjoyed riding in the cart,
pulled by our good friend, Scott.
Scott's lovely wife, Krista, was
on camera duty, so we failed to get her in any good shots. But believe me, she is lovely! Mayah lasted all of ten seconds in the cart. I got to carry her the rest of the way to the patch. Our goal was to pick up a pumpkin per kid. Last year, Judah picked out the tiniest, white pumpkin in the whole batch. It was impossible to do anything with. This year, I didn't hold my breath as we set the kids loose.

To the right is a photo of Mayah with the pumpkin
man. Finally, something that she enjoyed!

Mayah took time out of the great pumpkin hunt to pose for the camera. The girl loves to pose.

I think our favorite part of the day was watching the kids struggle across the dirt clumps, vines, and enormous pumpkins.
Please note Judah's pumpkin carrying method: one arm at the base, one arm wrapped around the stem.

The challenge of the day was getting Liam to pose with a pumpkin. The ground was uneven, so sitting up was nearly impossible. We ended with Scott holding Liam. Liam only tumbled to the ground once. Success!

We came home with three tiny, discolored pumpkins. I believe our total was $2.75. It was almost embarrassing paying with our check card.


Another fall tradition under our belt!

Six Months Across the Board

Liam was a little late getting his six month appointment, but we finally got him in! We like to make comparisons. Yep. Go ahead and let us know how poor our parenting skills are. We can take it. Anyhow, here is what we got:

Judah Roderick:

At his sixth month appointment, Judah weighed 16 pounds and six ounces. He was 26 inches long, and his head was 44.4 centimeters.

Mayah Evangeline:At six months, Mayah weighed 20 pounds and eight ounces. She was 28 inches long, and her head was 44.5 centimeters.

Liam Garrison:


At six months, Liam is 19 pounds and three ounces. He is 27.5 inches long, and his head is 44.6 inches.
It is astounding to me how different all of my children look. Who are these kids? Judah is our little squirt. He didn't weigh what Mayah and Liam did at six months until he was twelve months old. He was still wearing 6 to 12 month shorts when he was two. Liam and Mayah were both in 12 month clothes before six months.

So there you have it: contrast and compare.

Pull Your Vestigation

Judah likes to sing. Judah likes to sing in repetition. Judah likes to sing the incorrect words in repetition.

Today I was entertained by a rendition of "Know Your Destination". You may recognize this tune from the beloved show, Thomas and Friends.

Judah's lyrics: Every time you leave the station, pull your vestigation.

Correct lyrics: Every time you leave the station, get to know your destination.

Thomas has some good moments, but man, are his songs lame...and a little creepy.

I enjoyed most of all how Judah ended on a high pitch, vibrato note. It was very final. Beautiful.

Sad Sight

So I have this problem...a disability one might say. For a reason unknown to me, I am unable to bring myself to grocery shop if there is still something left in the house to eat. Last night we had what was our final possible meal: oatmeal and apples. Nutritious and delicious!

This is a picture to give you an idea of how far this disability of mine reaches: What you see is not uncommon.

I really dislike shopping of all kinds. Grocery shopping is especially hard on me because of the amount of time that purchase stays with me. It is one thing to buy a coat I will wear for five years. It is a completely different thing to buy a pound of hamburger that I might forget about in the back of the fridge. I hate to waste things. In a perfect world I would make up a plan for the week of exactly what we will need and buy it and nothing else. But what mother of three children three and younger has time for that? I would like to meet her. It always baffles me when I see a cupboard stocked with chips, canned goods, and cooking needs like spices at a friends house. Do people really just walk through the store and think, "Hmmm...I might someday in a month or two need lemon juice and evaporated milk. Better buy it today!" This thought process is totally lost on me. If I see a fun recipe that calls for cumin, you had better believe I need to drive to the store to buy cumin.

This really is an unfortunate problem. Sometimes I am hungry for an item we don't have. Sometimes someone comes over to watch our kids and assumes we have fallen on hard times. Sometimes we get to the place where oatmeal is our only option. Will my children grow up and only remember empty cupboards? Will they grow to despise apples because I make them eat them all before I will buy a new type of fruit? Does Will make secret trips to the store just so he can eat something other than a pop tart for lunch?

I will go shopping today. I will go shopping today. I will go shopping today. My children need to eat...

Preschool Debut

Today was Judah's first day of preschool. I wasn't sure if I was going to send Judah to preschool or not until my friend, Cory, came up with a great plan. She and I, along with eight other moms, all have children who could be enrolled in preschool but are not for one reason or another. I know that it is important for Judah to have the preschool experience if I am going to enroll him in school later on...believe me, I am not anti-establishment. He needs to learn to share, take turns, raise his hand, and do all of those other great things he refuses to do at home.

So, my friends and I put together our own little preschool. We are meeting at the church in one of the classrooms on Wednesday mornings. We have a schedule set up so that each mom teaches, assists, sits in the nursery, and has five days off in a semester. I had this morning off. I spent my free time at Hobby Lobby. It was glorious. My favorite part of this arrangement is that I can leave Mayah and Liam in the nursery during my days off, so I really do get a morning to myself. Plus, I totally trust the moms who are teaching Judah.

Judah came home with a picture that was titled, "This is Me on My First Day of Preschool." It was a circle and some squiggles. I asked him what it was, and he said it was Gordon shunting some coal cars. Whatever.